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Predator (UK - BD RB)

Chris Gould checks out another of Fox's bare-bones old school Blu-ray releases

Feature

Predator stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Major 'Dutch' Schaefer, leader of an elite mercenary unit hired by the CIA to rescue a cabinet minister who is being held somewhere in Central America by a group of guerillas. The team are accompanied on the mission by Dutch's old friend Dillon (Carl Weathers), but things get off to a bad start with the discovery of the mutilated bodies of a group of Green Berets. Upon further investigation Dutch realises that he knew the dead men and quizzes Dillon about their presence. Dillon denies all knowledge of the Green Berets' mission, blaming the guerrillas for the atrocities.

The team tracks the guerillas down and a bloody battle ensues, but when the fighting has subsided it becomes apparent that there was no cabinet minister and that Dillon and the CIA used the team to stop a potential security threat to the United States. Angered by his friend's deception, Dutch orders his team to retreat to the evacuation point, taking the only surviving guerilla along with them for the intelligence she can provide. Shortly afterwards the prisoner tries to escape and is pursued by one of Dutch’s team. Just as he catches up to the woman, a mysterious, almost invisible shape emerges from the jungle, cuts him down and carries the corpse off into the trees.

It soon becomes apparent that the guerrillas were not responsible for what happened to the Green Berets and that someone, or something, else is stalking the commandos through the jungle. They are being tracked by an implacable alien creature, capable of blending into the surrounding environment and possessed of superior technology. This unseen assassin picks the commandos off one by one until only the girl and Dutch remain. He alone must face the hunter with whatever primitive weaponry he can muster in the ultimate battle for survival.

Video

As with RoboCop before it, Predator arrives with an MPEG-2 encoded 1.85:1 transfer (1080p). My first thought as the opening Fox logo appeared on-screen was 'oh my God'—the word grainy doesn't do it justice. As the film progressed my initial suspicion that the this Blu-ray release came from the same master as the older DVD releases was pretty much confirmed. Thankfully it seems to be the master used for the most recent 'Definitive Editions', as most of the nicks and scratches that plagued the earlier releases have been eliminated. Excessive grain is also less of an issue this time around, but there is still a disturbing amount of telecine wobble early on. The quality of the image is probably best described as variable, switching from sharp and clean to a grain-filled blur-fest, then back again. Thankfully we get the sharp and clean version for most of the running time.

While this isn't the full-blown restoration I'd hoped for, there are a number of obvious positives. The enhanced resolution makes for the sharpest looking version of the film yet seen on a home format, making it possible to pick out individual beads of sweat on the actors' faces (for example). Colour rendition is also improved over the various DVD releases, with the lush greens of the jungle looking especially impressive. As an aside, I was also impressed by how well the special effects stood up to scrutiny under the high-definition microscope. Not bad for a film fast approaching its twenty-first birthday.

Audio

Fox provides us with another DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, but once again I was unable to hear anything beyond the DTS Core track thanks to hardware limitations. To be honest with you I don't think I was really missing much, because the track hasn't undergone any significant remastering. In fact, it doesn't sound significantly different from the DVD release to my ears. The rears still sound like Mono rather than discrete channels, which is most disappointing. Fidelity is also lacking throughout, dialogue levels are inconsistent and the whole thing sounds a bit flat. Blaine firing off his minigun is an event that should shake the room, but the track never really provides the necessary 'oomph' in the bass department. It does pack a little more punch than the equivalent DTS track on DVD, but it's not night and day by any means. I don't want to be unnecessarily harsh, but on reflection I felt that the lack of discrete surround action warranted the deduction of a point from my original score.

Extras

This is yet another bare-bones Fox release. The only bonus material on offer comes in the form of a series of trailers, for Predator itself, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes remake and Eragon. It's hardly much to excited about. There are plenty of extras that could have been ported over from the standard definition releases of the film, so the lack of any worthy material really is shocking.

Overall

Predator is one of the ultimate 'pizza night' films; full of guts, guns and pithy one-liners. I really enjoy the film for what it is, although it's not on the same level as Ridley Scott's Alien or Jim Cameron's Aliens. Still, now that the xenomorphs from both franchises have been reduced to appearing in Paul W.S. Anderson movies, Predator serves as a welcome reminder of the good old days before bullet-time face-huggers.

Unfortunately Fox again fails to treat an iconic film with the respect it deserves. This is one of the biggest action films of the 80s starring one of the biggest names in Hollywood—a bare-bones disc really isn't good enough. While this is currently the best looking and sounding version of Predator available—purely by virtue of the fact that it is a high-definition release—it still falls considerably short of my expectations for the format. Predator should have been completely remastered and given a full compliment of bonus material to really show off the capabilities of the Blu-ray format. Die hard fans might want to pick this one up to tide them over, but it's over-priced, under-specced, and I can't see it shifting many Blu-ray players.

* Note: The above images are taken from the Blu-ray release and resized for the page. Full-resolution captures are available by clicking individual images, but due to .jpg compression they are not necessarily representative of the quality of the transfer.

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Having watched a good 2/3rds of the R2 Special Edition from a few years back yesterday, I would say that just by being 1080p isn't enough (for me) to warrent an upgrade. If it is the same master for this SD DVD and the BD then it's not good enough. It needs a digital clean up and restoration. The grain in some shots is really bad (the upward shot as 'the team' descend into the jungle from the choppers) but that's down to the stock and low lighting levels so it's not really a problem that can go away.

The dirt, however is the problem. It's particularly evident in the opening shots as the team assemble and the titles have a vertical 'jump' to them. This image needs some serious time spent on it. Admittedly, once you get into the jungle these problems are less noticable though.

So yes, after viewing the SD DVD again, I would revise my opinion on this release. The minor upgrade in resolution along with no extras isn't worth the money on this occasion. A pity as Predator is one of my all time favourites of the late 80's.

That's not the official UK cover art (no BBFC logos). It isn't out here until April and Fox couldn't provide me with artwork, so I used the most likely one from another region. It's also the art that was used for the DVD SE. The German BD cover is different again and it might be the one used over here. It's more 'modern', looking a bit like the Alien vs. Predator DVD artwork.

ok so im used to seeing c**ppy covers but you're telling me they couldn't have at least used the original font for the title? ..the font here makes it look like some cheap straight to video or cable movie.

Dave Brock wrote: Except I have no idea what version they had of the standard release It looks like the original Fox 2 Disc SE to me.

Dave Brock wrote: or what they played it on, because the picture on my standard R2, 2 disc release (through a Denon upscaler, into a Sony 40" LCD Bravia) looks about 200% better than their screengrabs. You cannot compare how a TV handles a picture with a screen "capture" shown on a PC monitor. They're two entirely different things. Screen captures show many faults you'll just never see on a TV screen. A capture is also a static image too.

Dave Brock wrote: Unless the upscaling on the Denon is SO good that quite frankly the difference between it and the BR screengrabs on that link are truly not worth the upgrade. Ignore how they look separately as it's not indicative of how it will look on a TV and compare how much sharper and how the colours differ on each. You'll see the BD looks much better.

Except I have no idea what version they had of the standard release or what they played it on, because the picture on my standard R2, 2 disc release (through a Denon upscaler, into a Sony 40" LCD Bravia) looks about 200% better than their screengrabs. Honestly...It looks superb. Even on still the detail is great. I don't recognise the screengrabs on that site at all as belonging to the same version I'm now looking at.

Those standard screen grabs are utterly spurious to me. Unless the upscaling on the Denon is SO good that quite frankly the difference between it and the BR screengrabs on that link are truly not worth the upgrade.

dammit...this is the disc & review i've been waiting for. i feel let down. good review chris. you made the decision a lot easier for me on the purchase of this disc. damn you again fox!!! the earlier damning was for not including the unrated version of live free or die hard on blu ray...aaarrrgggghhh.

Hamisht wrote: man, why do i get the feeling this is like the start of DVD all over again? c**ppy bare-bones editions, which will soon be replaced by Special Editions. Why couldnt HD be straight out SE each and everytime. Most studios are in fact treating HD well.

Seeing as you can get the standard release for about a 3rd of the price to shove in your upscaling player...Why bother with this?

With no restoration and no pushing the visual limits of high def, you may as well save a fortune and get the standard release (or just keep it) and spend the extra cash on something else.

Quote: While this is currently the best looking and sounding version of Predator available—purely by virtue of the fact that it is a high-definition release—it still falls considerably short of my expectations for the format.

Conclusions like this will see high def stagnate and die. What? I bought a brand new expensive player, a brand new expensive TV for THIS...Quote: falls considerably short of my expectations for the format.

I had a little chuckle there Chris. Your last line about Die hard fans. As I was reading that line, after 'Die hard fans might want to', I continued, 'watch Die Hard'.

Sad n'est pas?

Good review. Shame about the lack of proper restoration and extras.

Not excusing Fox's lacklustre handling of the title, it's probably fair to say that all the extras on the Special/Definitive editions were standard def anyway and most people who will buy this BD will almost certainly have the previous DVD's and extras. Given how even the mighty Blade Runner US BD box set had SD DVD's included for some of the discs (am I right on that fact), I don't think fans of Predator should necessarily feel short changed over the extras issue. Even if they were included, they'd probably be on a 2nd SD DVD anyway.

May pick this up if it's ever on one of the Buy 1 (or 2) get one free deals.

The only Blu-Ray discs I own are the ones I got with my PS3, & will probably be traded in when I can be arsed. I was looking forward to updating a few titles in the collection, but the way the studios are going about this is seriously unfair to the consumers.

man, why do i get the feeling this is like the start of DVD all over again? c**ppy bare-bones editions, which will soon be replaced by Special Editions. Why couldnt HD be straight out SE each and everytime. BladeRunner did it beautifully.

If this is any indication of the U.S. release--and signs point that it is--I'll be skipping this one unitl they releae it yet again and with all of the features of the SD two-disc set. Some of Fox's latest releases have been very good and I was hoping that they had put their days of bareboned discs behind them. I don't see why they couldn't include those aforementioned extras with this disc, especially seeing as they fit all of the extras from fellow catalogue title The Fly's two-disc set on Blu-ray. Well, no other reason except to bilk money out of folks who buy it twice.